Talks Continue, Hormuz Remains Key Point of Contention

Iranian media are striking a cautiously optimistic tone on the progress of the talks.

They say there was progress on implementation of the ceasefire in Lebanon, technical negotiations that went beyond generalities and now an exchange of texts that would put any progress in writing. 

To be sure, the US side has been much quieter, and sticking points may come into focus once they're in black and white.

Teams of experts joined the main negotiators after about an hour, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

Those technical discussions in Islamabad focused on the Strait of Hormuz, a potential ceasefire extension and phased sanctions relief. Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency says, citing its reporter at the venue.

"The issue of the Strait of Hormuz is one of the points facing serious disagreement", adding that the US delegation "hindered progress" during the text-exchange stage with "its usual excessive demands"

Talks have reportedly mostly avoided the core issues that the Trump administration said drove it to war, according to a US official and a Pakistani official familiar with the matter.

Those issues include Iran's support for armed proxies, and the nuclear and missile programs that were at the heart of Trump's stated reasons for attacking Iran beginning Feb. 28.

"We have goodwill, but we do not have trust," Ghalibaf told reporters after arriving in Islamabad, according to Iran's semi-official Fars news agency.

"In the upcoming negotiations, if the American side is prepared for a genuine agreement and to grant the rights of the Iranian nation, they will see readiness for an agreement from us as well."

Tasnim said that Tehran's 71-member delegation also included the Islamic Republic's central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati.

Also on the agenda will be the fate of Iran's uranium stockpile and missile production, as well as US sanctions against the Islamic Republic and broader military presence in the Middle East. Many of those issues were the same ones the two sides failed to resolve in February negotiations before the war began.

Iran's deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi says Tehran has entered negotiations from a position of strength, arguing that the war on Iran had failed to deliver decisive strategic gains for the US.

Trump - as we detailed below - made it clear he sees Iran 'holding no cards'.